What are the Most Common Lies on Social Media?

While politicians in Washington, D.C. trip over themselves lying just about everything — major issues like climate change, healthcare, or taxation as well as less significant issues like size of crowds at the inauguration or the notorious Bowling Green massacre — people habitually lie on social media. Since the goal of many sites (think Facebook, Tinder, and its ilk) is to make a good impression, there is nothing more helpful than the age-old, seemingly innocuous, itty-bitty white lie. But no matter how you whitewash it, a lie is still a lie. Frustrated with the web of lies on the web, the Reddit community wanted to do something about it — they wanted to unmask all the pretenders out there by revealing the most common lies people tell on social media. Anyone who has seen the documentary Catfish, or the series of the same name, will not be surprised to learn that the most common lie on social media is using a fake photo. Equally surprising is that people seem to be very honest about their age. I suppose the takeaway here is that if a person uses a fake photo, at least it reflects the right age. Kudos, liars (you know who you are). Here are the most common lies people share on social media — remember being forewarned is being forearmed.

Using fake photos: 25.21%

Lying about owning something: 23%

Lying about dating, sex, or relationships: 14.84%

Lying about job, title, or salary: 13.23%

Lying about terminal illness or death: 6.97%

Lying about knowing or meeting someone: 4.95%

Lying about their ethnicity: 4.95%

Lying about weight or fitness: 3.34%

Lying about age: 1.61%

And where do people lie the most? According to the Reddit community, these are the social media platforms where people lie the most: